Day of the Dead/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: "The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby." An animation shows Tim in his bathroom. He opens the mirror cabinet. When he closes it, Moby suddenly appears in the reflection. Moby wears Mexican sugar skull face paint. It scares Tim. TIM: Aah! An animation shows Tim opening his refrigerator door. He bends down to get a water bottle. He stands up, and Moby appears wearing the same face paint. TIM: Aah! An animation shows Tim walking across the stage at a graduation ceremony. He reaches out to accept the diploma, but Moby’s hand grabs his wrist. TIM: Aah! An animation shows Tim bolt upright in his bed. TIM: Aah! What a weird dream. Tim gets up and walks to the window. He opens the curtains and Moby is standing outside the window in his face paint. Tim jumps. TIM: Aah! Stop it! I don’t think this holiday means what you think it means. Moby opens the window and gives Tim a typed letter. Tim reads from it. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, what is Día de los Muertos, and how did it start? From, Cristina. Hi, Cristina. Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday that falls right around Halloween. In Mexico, it’s known as Día de Muertos—without the los. An animation shows Moby with the words “Día de Muertos.” TIM: That probably got added when Mexican immigrants brought the holiday to the US. The name was translated into English, and then back again. The words “Day of Dead” appear below “Día de Muertos.” The phrases change to “Day of the Dead” and “Día de los Muertos.” TIM: But in both countries, you'll see similar signs of celebration: Like skull-shaped candy, playful skeletons, decorated altars- MOBY: Beep! TIM: Or face-painting, like on Moby, here. In Mexican tradition, it’s a time when the dead visit the world of the living. MOBY: B-e-e-p! Moby raises his arms out like Frankenstein’s monster. His beep sounds spooky. TIM: Ugh, no—it's not like Halloween. I mean, yeah, both holidays include spirits of the dead. But on Día de Muertos, they're not out for revenge, or shaking you down for candy. An animation shows two little kids playing with toys. A shadow falls over them. They stop playing and look up to see what it is. TIM: They’re ancestors, like grandparents and great-grandparents. Or family friends, or even just famous faces, especially if they died recently. Once a year, they return to spend time with loved ones—like a big reunion. An animation shows that the shadow comes from three friendly spirits. The kids smile, and one of the spirits pinches the girl's cheeks. TIM: You'll see different traditions depending on where you are in Mexico. Some cities really blow it out, with huge parades or festivals. An animation shows a map of Mexico. Dancing people, fireworks, and confetti, appear over the map. TIM:But it’s really a family holiday. MOBY: Beep! TIM: The roots of the festival go back at least to the days of the Aztec Empire. Its people, the Mexica, ruled central Mexico starting around the 1300s. An animation shows the temples of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Civilization. A map appears in the corner showing the location of the Aztec Empire. TIM: For them, death was just another phase of life, and the dead mixed with the living. Warriors who died in battle became flowers, hummingbirds, or Monarch butterflies. An animation shows bright flowers. A hummingbird and several monarchs appear. TIM: But when regular folks died, their spirits had to make a difficult journey through the underworld, the land of the dead. Mourning their deaths was considered insulting and tears made the path slippery. An animation shows a man's spirit making his journey through the underworld. His family's tears rain down on him as he walks. He slips and falls. TIM: And they relied on their families for food, drink, and supplies along the way. An animation shows a table piled with food offerings for a deceased loved one. TIM: The Aztecs celebrated the queen of the underworld every summer. There were parades, feasts, and shrines piled high with flowers, gifts, and food. An animation shows a family celebrating the queen of the underworld. They are talking and preparing food together. MOBY: Beep! TIM: Yeah, well, when the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, they didn’t like this one bit. An animation shows Spanish ships sailing to Mexico. TIM: They were there to conquer the Americas, convert its people to Catholicism, and bring back mucho gold. An animation shows symbols of these goals: a Spanish flag, a Catholic cross, and a treasure chest of gold. TIM: So they set about wiping out Aztec religion: banning their gods, burning their sacred books, and outlawing their religious holidays, which the Spanish considered barbaric. An animation shows a Spanish missionary in an Aztec village. Icons of the Aztec gods, books, and holidays appear. TIM: But the two cultures had way more in common than the Spanish wanted to believe. Where the Mexicans had many gods, the Spanish had many saints. An animation shows the Mexican gods and the Spanish saints. TIM: Which they celebrated on All Saints’ Day, November 1. And on Nov 2, they celebrated a Christian holiday called All Souls' Day. An animation shows a calendar marking All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. TIM: It was a time to remember and pray for those who had died. With parades, feasts, and shrines piled high with flowers, gifts, and food. Sound familiar? So instead of disappearing, the Aztec traditions just kind of... rebranded. They moved to the fall and merged with the Catholic holidays. An animation shows a table of Aztec offerings. It transforms to include Catholic idols as well. TIM: Día de Muertos became a time to spruce up the family plot. Ofrendas, or altars piled with offerings, were built right into the cemetery. Families would spend the whole night there! While also eating, drinking, listening to mariachi music, and generally having a good time. An animation shows a family walking to their plot in a cemetery. They sit down to eat, and a mariachi band plays music. TIM: These days, most Mexicans don't live close to the family cemetery. So it’s easier to make the ofrendas at home. An animation shows an apartment with an ofrenda in the living room. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, the basic setup includes candles and Mexican marigolds, or cempazúchitl. Both are there to attract spirits, and guide them to the altar. An animation shows an empty table. Candles and flowers appear as Tim mentions them. TIM: Cempazúchitl means “flower of the dead” in the Aztec language of Nahuatl. They’re bright and super fragrant, and have grown wild in central Mexico since Aztec times. An animation shows a Mexican forest. An Aztec woman picks a bunch of cempazúchitl. TIM: But that’s just the bare, uh, bones. There might also be copal incense, which Aztec temples used to purify the soul. Or an arch of papel picado, traditional paper cut-outs. An animation shows the table again. A lamp of copal incense appears. An arch of colorful papers is strung on the wall behind the table. TIM: This marks the doorway to the spirit world. Paper was sacred to the Aztecs, and they used tons of it in rituals. And front and center, in a place of honor, pictures of the family’s loved ones. Ofrendas should include their favorite things: Like foods or reminders of their hobbies—even sports teams. Pictures appear on the table next to food, a stamp collection, and a flyer for a soccer team. TIM: These personal items help the spirits feel at home. For the living, there are traditional dishes made just for Día de Muertos. Pan de muertos, or “bread of the dead,” are glazed sweet rolls with a design of crossed bones on top. An animation shows Tim and Moby looking through a bakery window. Pan de Muertos is one of the treats on the bakery's shelf. TIM: And calaveritas, or “little skulls,” are decorated sugar skulls. They’re given to little kids--with their names written on top. Calaveritas are also shown on the shelf. They are brightly colored, and the names "Esteban" and "Lidia" are written on them. TIM: Calaveras, or skulls, are also the name of a kind of poem friends exchange on the holiday. They’re like epitaphs, words written about someone after they die. But they're playful: you're supposed to tease your friends a little in them. An animation shows Tim and Moby. Moby hands Tim a piece of paper. Tim reads from it. TIM: There once was a nerdoid named Tim… Tim glares at Moby. TIM: Moving on.... You may also see a lot of this lady. La Calavera Catrina is like the symbol of Día de Muertos. An image of La Calavera Catrina is shown. She's a skeleton wearing a big hat and cempazúchitl flowers. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Skulls were a big part of Aztec festivals, and everyday colonial Mexican life: In the 1800s, cemeteries would display real skulls on shelves. An animation shows rows of skulls displayed at a cemetery. TIM: They actually had to do that, because the gravesites were getting overcrowded. So, a few years after burial, skeletons would be dug up to make room. An animation shows two cemetery workers walking to a grave. They start to dig up a skeleton, but Moby's hand shoots out of the ground and grabs the shovel. TIM: Hey! I told you, it's not a scary holiday! Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Social Studies Transcripts